Miracle Heart
by notyourleo
Summary: AU. Annabeth is a goddess with a curse placed upon her: The day will come when she will be overwhelmed with happiness, and will turn mortal and die. The gods keeps her miserable for her to keep living, until she meets a mortal named Perseus.


_Miracle Heart_

There was a child, a very lonely child. She was a daughter of two immortals, or gods, as you call them. The child looked like an angel, with wavy blonde hair, and pale gray eyes. She looked so pure and angelic, that Thanatos, the god of death, bestowed a curse that made the other gods and immortals fear him more: one day she would be overwhelmed with happiness and love, which would eventually turn her mortal-bearing such weight-and die right after. However, until then, she would live.

The gods were anxious if it would ever happen, so they approached the oracle. It didn't help them either, only to hear from it that the young child would die a mortal.

That is why the child was named Annabeth, meaning, "Under a favor of god."

Annabeth didn't know that she was bearing a curse. All her life, she was entrapped with loneliness, away from other children of the gods like her, away from joy. She could talk to them, but not for long. The gods gave her anything she wanted, but could not give her love. They would do anything to keep little Annabeth from this curse, but they didn't know she was turning into a stubborn child she was.

When the time that she wouldn't dwell the mountains anymore, she set out on an adventure of her own, outside Mt. Olympus, and into the mortal world. There, she met a mortal boy planting a seed in a deserted land.

"What are you planting?" Annabeth asked.

"I'm planting something that is almost impossible to plant around this place," he said, wiping the sweat on his forehead. "This is a big plant, and it'll stand for a hundreds of years!"

Then right after, they had become friends. The boy's name was Perseus, named after a hero who died a century ago. Perseus was Annabeth's first friend. Every day, they would meet at the deserted land to play and explore, and learn more about themselves, but Annabeth was hiding her true self, not telling her friend that she was a goddess. When, finally, she told Perseus, he looked surprised, but didn't leave her side. They continued to play and explore, even when Perseus had entered adulthood, they watched the seed that he planted grow. Annabeth was not growing, but she was happy, and her friend was still playing with her, and always with her.

So Annabeth gave Perseus a gift.

"It's an earring," Annabeth said, "my mother created a pair for me, but this one is yours now."

"But, this is yours," Perseus said. "You can't give it to me."

However, Annabeth simply shook her head, smiling. "You are my friend. I give this to you because I want to."

Therefore, Perseus took one earring, and had worn it since; the other one of its partner with Annabeth.

But one day, when the gods had become suspicious and anxious about Annabeth's everyday adventures, and coming home smiling, they had searched all over the land, looking for the source of happiness, until they found her only friend. They cursed Perseus for making Annabeth feel happy. Every time that Perseus saw Annabeth, he would age rapidly until his body rots. "So if you value your life," the gods said to him in a bitter tone, "you should stop seeing the goddess you are fond of."

Nonetheless, he stills visitws the deserted land where he planted the seed, and continued to play with Annabeth until he grew old. When he was very old, he could not stand up, and he lay under the growing plant of his in his remaining days, which was turning into a young tree. Annabeth still visited him and played with him. On his last day of living, he spoke to Annabeth in a calm and croaking voice.

"There are times that no one will help you, no one to guide you," he told the young goddess, sitting under the tree, its leaves falling. "So, you will have to walk by yourself."

"Are you saying," Annabeth said, frowning, "that you're leaving me?"

Perseus chuckled and shook his head, "No, dear goddess. I will always be your friend, always at your side, always here."

And then the next day, Perseus had passed, his body still sitting in the tree, his bony hands clutching Annabeth's earring, and a faint smile visible on his tired face.

* * *

When the gods has heard of Perseus' inevitable death, they have concealed Annabeth again from happiness and love, especially from the mortal world. Annabeth, not knowing about Perseus' death and desperate to get out from her new yet old prison, had wished that her friend would come here to save her, but no one came. Slowly, Annabeth was becoming soulless, just a living doll that follows anyone's orders, void from emotions. But all in her mind was her friend, Perseus, the only one that really understood her. Hundreds of years had passed, and no one came to her aid. Nevertheless, she was reawakened by Perseus' words: _There are times that no one will help you, no one to guide you._ _So, you will have to walk by yourself._ Regretting, she stood up on her own, broke out of her prison, and out to the mortal world once more.

She headed towards the deserted land, hoping that Perseus would still be there waiting for her. But the land wasn't deserted anymore. It became paradise itself. There were colorful flowers stretching over the vast corners of the land, fresh air to breathe, giving the barren wasteland of a refreshing start. Then, in the middle of the land, were Perseus once planted a seed, was the biggest tree that the young goddess had ever seen. It was standing tall, blooming pink petals, and they were showering everywhere. Annabeth ran to the tree and danced with such grace. She was sad that she didn't see the tree grow little by little, but it was able to survive this land, once filled with loneliness, and was growing happily in front of her.

"Oh, I wish Perseus could see this! He worked so hard to keep this tree alive and well!"

At the same moment, she saw a bundle of flowers growing at the roots and base of the tree. Annabeth was curious, so she edge closer to see…but then she wished she didn't. Her joyful world was now full of sadness, anger and loneliness. Annabeth saw what of the remains of her friend.

She was not happy anymore. She was very lonely now. There was no one else that would guide her. She had no other friends. Perseus was her only friend, and now he had passed a long time ago. The Fates were cruel; the gods were cruel. Would they continue to destroy her? She had enough.

Annabeth cried and cried, screamed to the heavens, wishing she would drown by her tears and voice from grief. She wished to see Perseus once more. All those wasted years, she wanted to stop time. She wished that she could be with her friend until the day he died.

Annabeth looked at Perseus' decayed body once more. Then, she noticed something glinting on his bony palm: a fine earring. Annabeth remembered giving it to him well, as if she gave it to him yesterday. She faintly smiled, having thoughts of Perseus thinking about her before. She reached out and took the earring to her palm.

She stared at it, when wind blasted from all corners, sending flower petals to dance in the air, and a light shining more brightly than the sun of Helios, and then came a familiar voice: "I've been waiting for you!"

Then the next thing Annabeth feels, was happiness she had never felt before. She blinked and saw her friend Perseus, fine and young, with his still messy black hair and kind sea-green eyes. His clothes were simple and clean, but looked just like a king after a good swim in the pure rivers of Olympus.

He smiled at Annabeth, "It has been a long time until you have brought back your independence," Perseus then passed a glance to Annabeth with sadness "ever since you have met me, you have become quite attached. It's not bad to depend to someone, but…" he faltered, then shook his head. "I'm just glad that you have found your way here again."

But Annabeth wasn't listening to anything he was saying. She was too shocked to say anything. For a moment, his friend was dead long ago, but now…

"How-" Annabeth started.

But Perseus somehow knew what she would ask. "You may think that I came back from the depths of the Underworld…" he said, "…think this is all just a dream, maybe think that you are hallucinating, or any other possibilities you make think of. But I'm always here-" he gestured into his surroundings, "always here, guiding those who are lost and will be found." Then Perseus held out a hand to Annabeth, smiling once again, "and I'm here to make up for the hundreds of years we haven't played together. Come on!"

Annabeth did not cared what this Perseus made of. All she cared about was that her friend was here once again. She took Perseus' hand, and treasured every moment they had. They played, they sang, they laughed, they cried.

After so many things have happened, it felt like longer, the miracle only lasted for a moment.

In the end, Perseus was slowly fading away, slowly disappearing into the tree, leaving a trace of smile much wider than his last. Annabeth was beside him, watching him go, tears streaming again, but it wasn't from grief; her only wish had been fulfilled, and she felt like the most happiest and fulfilled person in the whole world. She was able to be with Perseus in his final moments, until finally, he had passed completely.

Eventually, she became tired. Annabeth didn't feel this tired in all her immortal life. She felt all her strength faded away.

Overwhelmed with happiness and love, the goddess became mortal and slowly went to sleep, never realizing that she would never wake up again.

However, her face was filled with smile.

She looked like an angel: a being never known by the gods above.

* * *

As the many centuries passed, the tree continued to stand with its everlasting garden. When Philia, the goddess of friendship, had known this love, she blessed the tree with her remaining powers, leaving her fellow brothers and sisters, her powers transferring to the former goddess who was now residing in the tree with her friend. Friendships have formed under the tree, and others who were kind-hearted helped those people who are in need. Many miracles and wonders happened that the mortals had built a small temple beside it, and the people were blessed with happiness to those who have strong friendships.

Indeed, the friendship between the goddess and the mortal was one of the greatest wonders in the whole world, and the big tree was part of it.

* * *

_A/N: I'm not good at romance, really, dudettes (or dudes, if you're reading this. I rarely see dudes writing fanfiction...are there?) So this is more of a friendship/family thing. _

_This is a side story of a fanfiction I'm still doing, "The Goddess of Friendship"._

_Inspired by Rin Kagamine's Kokoro Kiseki (Miracle Heart), thus the title. Please do check out my dA account to find a PDF version of this with full author's note. Thanks for reading._

_**UPDATED. Changed some Stuff Like Philotes Name to Philia.  
Updated 4/13/13: Edited the whole thing.**_


End file.
